My First computer build!! (Please tweek!!)

[Andlát]

So i'm currently playing on a laptop which is faaaaaaaar better than the desktop that i used to play on. But like most guys my age that play computer games, i want something better. So this is what i came up with!

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990XA-UA3

Graphics Card: Asus ENGTX460

RAM: Kingston HyperX 8gb (2x4GB)

Processor: AMD PhenomII x4 955 black

Power supply: Corsair pro series Hx650 (or 750 if needed)

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB

Case: Raidmax Cyclone ATX-316B

CD/DVD Thingy (can't think of the name for some stupid reason.):Samsung CD/DVD Burner Black

OS: Windows 7 Home premium 64-bit

Please take a look at the build and criticize it. Also, please remember that this is the first build that i've ever thought up so please don't be too brutal! I'd also like to get some advice on a nice monitor is possible!Thanks in advance

[Xuvial]

The build looks completely fine and workable, but whether or not you're getting a good deal is another matter.

Usually we start with a minimum/maximum budget, establish whether you live in a country that has a decent PC store, and then go from there.

[Andlát]

I live in Madison WI with a budget of around $1000, maybe a little bit more. This is with out a monitor and keyboard and the parts up there, from newegg are $889.90 or $939.90 (with the 750 supply).

[taekvideo]

Get a samsung spinpoint f3... it's just as fast and cheaper than the caviar black.
Can't you use the cd/dvd drive from your old desktop? Save some money there.
4gb of ram is sufficient if you need to bring the cost down a bit more.

Mobo/Cpu:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128520
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115078
Cheaper total mobo+cpu price, and will destroy the phenom II's in games.

Lastly, the gpu is a bit on the weak side. It'll be plenty for WoW/Sc2 and other low intensity games... but for a lot of the recent ones it won't really cut it. I'd recommend at least a 560ti.

[Nellah]

It's pretty easy to fit an i5-2500K and respective motherboard in a $1000 budget, I'd recommend building a system around that. If you do, make sure the RAM you select can run at 1.50V.

[Deleted]

US Configuration (using newegg.com)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz
MB: [Z68] ASRock Z68 Pro3 ATX
GPU: MSI Twin Frozr II GeForce GTX 560 Ti
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA II
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast TX650 V2 650W 80 PLUS Bronze
CPUHS: Cooler Master Hyper 212+
CASE: Xigmatek Asgard-II Mid Tower
CDROM: LiteOn DVD Burner
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium OEM (64-bit)
Total Price: $945 USD
Configure More

You can change the tower, it's just there to get something in the price range you chose.

[Andlát]

@takevideo at what setting could i play wow at and still maintain a rate of 60fps or better with that cpu+processor combo?

[Xuvial]

@takevideo at what setting could i play wow at and still maintain a rate of 60fps or better with that cpu+processor combo?

Full Ultra (with Shadows on "Fair") will easily push you past 100fps+ in open areas, atleast 70-80fps in moderately-crowded cities. If you overclock (and you should) the only thing that will even come close to seeing FPS drop below 50-60 will be the most intensive 25man raids...or unless you turn Shadows to Ultra, which would be silly :P

Lets just say the i5 2500K build pretty much destroys your original Phenom-based build in terms of performance and overclocking ability.

And that's why we start off with a budget

[taekvideo]

@takevideo at what setting could i play wow at and still maintain a rate of 60fps or better with that cpu+processor combo?

i3-2100 + 560ti will easily max out WoW with shadows turned down a bit (should always turn shadows down no matter your setup... they really eat up the cpu time in WoW).
As others have said though, with a $1000 budget you can easily fit an i5-2500k + 560ti... which would go even further, and last much longer before you need to upgrade/replace your computer again.

[Deleted]

Yeah i don't think I missed anything in my build, should have all of the mentioned suggestions and keep you within your budget. Destroying your first build linked

[Andlát]

How would the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128520 work with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

[taekvideo]

How would the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128520 work with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

The one thing to know about that board is it doesn't have a manual vcore setting... you have to use dynamic vcore... so it's not great for heavy overclocks, but you should be able to do a 4.5ghz overclock just fine.

[Xuvial]

A Z68 board that's missing USB3 and manual voltage control is just...wait, what?

[taekvideo]

A Z68 board that's missing USB3 and manual voltage control is just...wait, what?

A really cheap z68 board :P

[Andlát]

So it would be worth it to just splurge and buy the more expensive board?

[taekvideo]

So it would be worth it to just splurge and buy the more expensive board?

If you're concerned about the lack of vcore and/or usb3.0 you can get this one which is only slightly more and has both of those:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157251
or one of my favorites:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131773

Only reason to get a more expensive board than one of those would be if you plan on running multiple graphics cards (sli/crossfire).
In which case I'd recommend:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131729

[Xuvial]

ASrock Z68 Pro3 immediately gets my vote, great features for the price

[Deleted]

Swap out the Western Digital HDD for a Samsung F3 Spinpoint. Especially now that Western Digital prices spiked by 25%+ thanks to the flood in Thailand, it's significantly cheaper to get the Samsung one. Their performance is pretty much the same.

Asrock z68 gen3 extreme3 is pretty good value for all it contains.